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ARCHIVED WEBSITE from Spring 2020 schools closures due to pandemic. Note: Some content may not be available to students & families after June 2020.
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Week 1: April 6-10
Week 1: April 6-10
Learning Goal:
Learning Goal:
- Students will comprehend and analyze texts pertaining to historical issues.
- Students will use informative texts to make critical connections between the past and the present.
- For this week, students will be learning more about historical pandemics to better understand the current Covid-19 crisis.
Estimated Time for The Week: 75-100 minutes
Estimated Time for The Week: 75-100 minutes
Learn & Practice:
Learn & Practice:
Go to this English III presentation to participate in this week’s learning activities. The presentation for this week will walk you through the following tasks:
- Watching videos: “The Spanish Flu and Its Toll” & “The Spanish Flu was Deadlier than WWI”
- Reading the article “How 5 of History’s Worst Pandemics Ended”
- Listen to a Podcast: “The Deadliest Pandemic in Modern History”
- Write a journal entry about this historic moment in time
- Watch “Coping with Coronavirus Anxiety”
- Read “How Teens can Protect Their Mental Health during Coronavirus”
Week 2: April 13-17
Week 2: April 13-17
Learning Goal: The Harlem Renaissance
Learning Goal: The Harlem Renaissance
- I can determine how different cultural and historical points of view affect an author’s stylistic choices.
- I can comprehend and respond to texts pertaining to historical events.
Estimated Time for The Week: 2 hours 30 minutes, or 150 minutes
Estimated Time for The Week: 2 hours 30 minutes, or 150 minutes
Learn & Practice:
Learn & Practice:
- View this slideshow and complete the learning activities on each slide for an introduction to The Harlem Renaissance.
- Read the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes
- Look at the similes Langston Hughes uses. Create three similes of your own with a dream deferred. EX. A dream deferred is like ____.
- Journal - Write about a time you or someone you know had to set aside a dream due to their circumstances.
- How did that experience make them feel?
- Were they able to overcome their obstacles?
- Read the story: How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neal Hurston .
- Those who study people often debate whether people are born the way they are or whether their environment shapes them (Nature vs. Nurture). What do you think? Discuss your opinions with a friend or family member.
- Read the information on this document about the first Black millionaire and her daughter. They were major contributors to the Harlem Renaissance.
- Write: How do you think white people in this era might feel about the Walkers? How do you think other African Americans might feel about the Walkers?
- Can you think of celebrities or public figures today that remind you of the Walkers? What similarities do you see?
- Watch the following video about Tulsa’s Black Wall Street.
- Read this article from Tulsa History about The Tulsa Race Riots (We think you will be surprised!
- Explain to a family or friend 3 facts you learned about the Tulsa Race Massacre. Discuss what you found most surprising.
- Reflect: Why is the term “massacre” more fitting than “riot”?
- Research the hunt for mass graves in Tulsa related to the massacre.
- Discuss its merits with friends or family members.
- Reflect: Why is it important to honor and remember the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre?
Week 3: April 20-24
Week 3: April 20-24
Learning Goal:
Learning Goal:
I can identify strategic choices in a written work and draw connections between realistic writing and contemporary culture.
- State Standards: 11.2.r.2, 11.3.r.1, 11.3.r.4, 11.5.w.1, 11.6.r.3, 11.6.r.4, 11.8.w.
Estimated Time for The Week: 1.5 hours, or 90 minutes total
Estimated Time for The Week: 1.5 hours, or 90 minutes total
Learn & Practice:
Learn & Practice:
- Hook/Intro: Think about the following questions and discuss with a friend, sibling, or parent and see how much knowledge there is between you. (5 min)
- What do you know about how your food is brought to you, the consumer?
- What do you know about food production and regulation in America?
- Do you feel that the food you buy at the grocery store is always safe to eat?
- Watch this video about the novel and this video about Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle and take notes on the following things: (10min)
- Who was Upton Sinclair?
- What did he accomplish by writing his novel?
- What were the major components contributing to the conditions in the meatpacking industry?
- What impact can investigative journalism have on society and public policy?
- Read this excerpt from The Jungle in your textbook. (45 min)
- Pay special attention to the sensory details that Sinclair includes when describing the conditions in the meat packing plant. Don’t forget that your online textbook has an audio feature that will read the book out loud to you so you can follow along if you like!
- Check your understanding of the text by answering these questions as you read. (Answer key here)
- Find a piece of investigative or even tabloid journalism, over any contemporary topic.(40 min)
- Highlight passages in the article that you feel show the style of journalism/writing being used and make a note of what the author’s purpose is in writing the article (what are they trying to accomplish? What do they want from their audience?).
- Write your own article, emulating the style of writing in the piece you found. Be mindful of what tone and purpose you are trying to convey through your writing!
- Share your article with a friend or family member and see if they get the message out of your article you were hoping to convey.
Week 4: April 27 - May 1
Week 4: April 27 - May 1
Learning Goal:
Learning Goal:
I can use knowledge learned from reading and research to create something that provides commentary on a contemporary issue.
Estimated Time for The Week: 2 hours, 120 minutes total
Estimated Time for The Week: 2 hours, 120 minutes total
Learn & Practice:
Learn & Practice:
- Read the excerpt from Fast Food Nation in the teacher textbook and discuss it with a friend, family member, or companion animal. Answer the following questions about the text. (45 minutes)
- Use the notes and questions in the margins to help you and your partner dissect the purpose of the excerpt. What is Eric Schlosser trying to accomplish or convince his audience of?
- Watch this excerpt from Supersize Me and the excerpt from Food, Inc. (15 minutes)
- Note and discuss the different approaches and purposes of these documentaries. Use these questions as a guide:
- What do they have in common and what is different about them?
- What is the major issue that each documentary is covering? What would you say their opinion of their topic is?
- Does the documentary provide any scenes or words that evoke an emotional reaction? What is that emotion?
- Is there a call to action? What does the documentary think we should do about the issue?
- What techniques, images, etc. do the documentarians use to persuade their audience?
- Note and discuss the different approaches and purposes of these documentaries. Use these questions as a guide:
- Create your own 4-minute documentary about something that is happening in your life right now. Use the following prompts/questions to help you: (60 minutes)
- Remember that your documentary should have a purpose/message.
- What are you trying to tell your audience?
- What do you yourself wonder about your topic?
- This documentary can be about anything--look around you and find something you think people need to know more about (i.e. something that is happening in your community, or even in your home).
- This can be as huge as the present global pandemic or as small as the stack of dishes perpetually waiting to be washed in the sink.
- As long as it is something you can investigate and film, it’s a good subject for a documentary!
- Remember that your documentary should have a purpose/message.
- Use this video to help you check whether your documentary has all the elements it needs to be successful. (Feel free to watch the video before creating your documentary!)
Week 5: May 4-8
Week 5: May 4-8
Learning Goal:
Learning Goal:
I can interpret and analyze a variety of texts of all literary and informational genres from a variety of historical, cultural, and global perspectives.
State Standards: 11.2.R.2, 11.3.R.2, 11.4.W.1, 11.6.R.3, 11.8.W
Estimated Time for The Week: 1 hour, 25 minutes total
Estimated Time for The Week: 1 hour, 25 minutes total
Learn & Practice:
Learn & Practice:
- Task 1 (20 minutes): Use this slideshow to follow and complete the Privilege Tally Mark activity.
- Answer a series of questions by following the directions: if a statement directly applies to you, you will be directed to either write a tally mark or erase one on your piece of paper.
- Answer the follow up questions to gain a better understanding of the activity.
- Task 2 (15 minutes): Journal Entry - take a moment to make a T-chart in your journal. Label the top of one column “De facto Segregation” and label the top of the other column “De jure Segregation.” Look up each term and write the definition of them below the specific term.
- Work with a friend, family member, or someone in your house and take a minute to explain the two terms and definitions to them. Then, work together and think back on your prior knowledge from American history or the media and come up with one example of each term to put in each column.
- Task 3 (10 minutes): Read this article and think about the modern day examples of De facto Segregation.
- Talk with a friend or someone in your household about some other current or modern day examples of De facto Segregation that you can think of.
- Task 4 (20 minutes): Read Maya Angelou’s poem and answer the following questions in your journal:
- What does the caged bird represent?
- How does the caged bird relate to a person that faces discrimination?
- What are the feelings of people who face discriminiation?
- What limitations does the caged bird encounter? What limitations do those who face segregation and discrimination encounter?
- What is the tone of this poem?
- What is the theme of this poem?
- In your own life, do you relate to the free bird that “dares to claim the sky” or do you relate to the caged bird with clipped wings and tied feet?
- Task 5 (20 minutes): Read Kyle Korver’s article "Privileged" and discuss the following questions or statements with a friend or someone in your household:
- What feelings did you have while reading this article?
- What part(s) of this article resonated with you?
- Think back to the Privilege Activity that you completed at the beginning of this lesson - Are you privileged?
- Do you view privilege in a negative or positive way?
- How can you be more aware of your privilege?
- Is it important to be aware of our own privilege? How can that impact the people around us?
Week 6: May 11-13
Week 6: May 11-13
Learning Goal:
Learning Goal:
I can analyze written and spoken texts and compare it to my own life while evaluating the meaning and tone of the text.
State Standards: 11.3.R.1, 11.R.2., 11.3.W.1
Estimated Time for The Week: 70 minutes total
Estimated Time for The Week: 70 minutes total
Learn & Practice:
Learn & Practice:
- Task 1 (25 minutes): Watch and listen to the following speech given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a writer that has won several awards for her novels, short stories, and essays. Make a journal entry answering the following questions:
- How do you view the people around you?
- How do you think people view you? Are you possibly stereotyped?
- How do you want people to view you?
- What did you feel while or after listening to Chimamanda’s story?
- What is the danger of a single story?
- Task 2 (20 minutes): Create your own identity board: Look around your house and gather any magazines or newspapers that you have. Using the magazines and newspapers, cut out any words and pictures that you believe represent who you are and glue them on a piece of paper (preferably poster paper). You need to have at least ten pictures and/or words cut out and glued to your board. Use the following list of topics as guidance for what you can look for in the magazines and newspapers.
- How you see yourself (e.g. funny, smart, reserved, kind, goofy, mature, etc…)
- How others would describe you (e.g. stoic, athletic, social, ambitious, reliable, obnoxious, thoughtful, encouraging, etc…)
- Factors that influence your identity (e.g. How you are raised - two parent household/single parent/many siblings/extended family around, where you live, spiritual/religious values)
- How society influences you (e.g. the community you live in, the generation you are a part of, social media, etc…)
- Task 3 (20 minutes):
- Make an identity playlist! First, create a playlist of 10 - 15 different songs that you think represent who you are. Next, using the songs on your playlist illustrate a word cloud filled with lyrics that are common or similar throughout the songs you chose.
- Task 4 (5 minutes): Reflect on and discuss the following questions/topics with a friend or someone in your house:
- How much of who you are is what you decide?
- How much does society influence who you are? Is that negative or positive?
- How do you identify yourself right now? Can that identification change?
- How would you like people to perceive you?
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